Wands and Witchcraft
by rattyjol
Summary: Various Harry Potter drabbles & oneshots. Spoiler warnings & ratings will be at the head of each chapter but shouldn't go above T. Ongoing.
1. First Nights

**A/N - This is an ongoing collection of Harry Potter drabbles and oneshots. They're in no particular order and have no connection to each other. Ratings and spoiler warnings will be at the top of each chapter but shouldn't go above T.**

**No spoilers, rated G/K.**

* * *

That first night, Molly held the perfect, tiny creature in her arms and cried.

She remembered the first night with Ron, not so long ago, frustrated that even this sixth child had been a boy. She loved him, of course, how could she not, but with five brothers and hopefully a sister sometime in the near future, she knew she could never love him enough.

She remembered the first night with Fred and George, studying each of their faces, trying to find ways to tell them apart. Arthur had made a crack about having to get them each a tattoo on their foreheads so they wouldn't get mixed up in the nursery and Molly had laughed and wished for a girl.

She remembered the first night with Percy, how he had come into the world without a sound and for one brief, horrible second they had thought he was dead. But no, he was alive, and she let Arthur choose the name because she had been hoping for a child she could name Ginevra.

She remembered the first night with Charlie, how he had cried and cried and cried and nothing they could do would make him quiet. She had felt a brief flicker of disappointment but she pushed it away, because this was her son, her child, and she was young and she had plenty of time to try again.

And she remembered the first night with Bill, how he had slept through the night and she had too, because she was so tired and so glad that it was _over_ and even though he wasn't the daughter she'd wished for she made a promise to herself right then and there that she was never, ever going to do this again.

And she looked down at Ginny and cried.


	2. Reflection

**Spoilers almost to the end of DH. PG/K+.**

* * *

George felt his throat tighten as he looked at himself in the mirror. If he tried, really tried, he could almost imagine that his reflection was real.

Half of his identity had been "Fred's twin". For as long as he could remember, he had played on that, used that, plans always going a little better with the two of them than they could ever have done alone. Together they had laughed their way through the good times and made the bad ones bearable. Hell, they had laughed through the bad times too.

Now George was alone. George was just... George.


	3. Stars

**No spoilers, PG/K+. Neville/Ginny at the Yule Ball.**

* * *

"Blimey, it's hot. Do you want to go outside?" She grabs his hand, face almost as red as her hair, and drags him out of the hall into a soft white landscape. Kicking off her shoes she flops down in the snow, heedless of her dress.

"Gorgeous, isn't it?" she says, pointing out at the frozen lake. "The way it reflects the starlight like that."

"Er, yeah," he agrees, though his own thoughts are on dancing and freckles and pretty red hair. He sits down, knowing Gran will kill him if he ruins his dress robes but not really caring.

She leans her head on his shoulder and he raises an arm to wrap it around her but just as he does she pulls away to point happily at the sky. "Ooh, look! A shooting star!"

"Make a wish," he says, and does. When it disappears behind the mountains he turns away.

"This was fun." She leans over to plant a quick kiss on his cheek. "Thanks. See you in the morning." She gets up, finds her shoes, and returns to the castle, leaving him alone in the snow and the dark wondering when the stars got so bright.


	4. Sixteen

**Spoilers for HBP, PG/K+. Narcissa and Draco Malfoy.**

* * *

She tells him she's proud of him and then rolls down his sleeve so she doesn't have to look at the ugly black mark blemishing the skin of her perfect son, but even when it's hidden she can't stop herself from staring because she knows it's there.

When he leaves for Hogwarts that year she can't bring herself to wave at the train because it's all she can do to keep her hands from shaking. She thinks it doesn't matter because he's not looking out the window anyway but he is and he turns away from the glass in shame.


	5. That Time Again

**Spoilers for DH, PG/K+ for death and snogging. Prompt is "3:44 PM" from LJ.**

* * *

It's 3:44 PM and Lily swings beside her sister, forward and back, forward and back. In the bushes a boy with a hooked nose and his father's shirt watches red hair shine in the afternoon sun.

It's 3:44 PM and they're halfway to Hogwarts. James and Sirius laugh at stories of pranks they've pulled, Peter laughing right along with them though he has no stories of his own to share, and Remus hides his scars behind a book in the corner. Lily and Severus sit side by side and she pries him for information, everything he knows about Hogwarts and the magical world, even though he doesn't know any more than he did in the forest yesterday, or on the train platform today.

It's 3:44 PM and Lily is helping Severus study for exams in the library. James trips on his way by and accidentally-on-purpose whacks Severus in the back with his bag. "Oops," he laughs, and walks away. Severus makes as if to follow but Lily pulls him back.

It's 3:44 PM and summertime again. Lily and Severus are fourteen and share their first kiss in the park where they met. It doesn't happen again. Halfway across the country Sirius is at the Potters' and James' mother has left them a tray of cookies as Sirius tells James about his own parents.

It's 3:44 PM and they've just finished another set of O.W.L.s. Lily tells James to stop bullying Severus and James asks her to go out with him. She shoots him down and moves to help her friend and Severus can't help it, his face is burning and the whole year is watching and the word just slips out. _Mudblood._

It's 3:44 PM and they're on their way back to London for the last time. Lily is snogging James in the boys' room and Severus sits with his fellow Slytherins, silent and sallow as they talk of death.

It's 3:44 AM and Voldemort is gone. Lily and James lie motionless in Godric's Hollow as a child cries in his crib with a mark on his forehead. Severus stands with the Death Eaters as they await their master and somewhere in the night a flying motorcycle speeds towards nothing but grief.


End file.
